J. Fred MacDonald
posted April 22, 2015
One of the true originals of moving-image archiving, J. Fred MacDonald, has died. A longtime professor of history at Northeastern Illinois University until his retirement, he amassed one of the world’s largest personal collections of films of celebrated variety.
Houdini Spirited from a Movie Cache
posted April 15, 2015
"The Grim Game," one of five films featuring Harry Houdini the master escape artist, has reemerged — appropriately enough, from the wunderkammer of a prestidigitator.
Saving the audio-visual legacy of American academic research… Start the triage.
posted April 3, 2015
It's looking unlikely that more than a small percentage of the deteriorating audio-visual legacy of American academic research is going to be saved. Colleges, universities, and research institutions may provide a good test case of how the challenges of sifting and salvation could play out. Triage seems likely to be the order of the day.
The First Queen of Celebrity Gossip: Rona Barrett
posted April 1, 2015
Reelin' in the Years, a San Diego-based footage-licensing company, dusts off Rona Barrett's Hollywood interviews; those join the archives of David Frost and the Merv Griffin Show in the company's offerings, along with the music footage that was formerly Reelin's focus. More archive additions are on the way.